Telling Of The Twelve
by dopegrl66
Summary: It's just my take on how the first ghosts were caught. (13 Ghosts)
1. The First Born Son

This is my version of how the first twelve ghosts were caught. I'm going to try to make it a different from Goody's story as possible. Any similarities are purely accidental. 

The Telling of the Twelve

By: Gdsmckgrl

Disclaimer: Any characters you don't recognize probably belong to me. The one's you do recognize don't belong to me. 

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Prologue and Chapter 1

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Dennis Rafkin, psychic counselor, awoke to the shrill ringing of one of the few objects on his bedside table. Thinking it was his alarm clock he picked it up and sleepily slung it across the room, when whatever it was rang three more times he realized it wasn't his alarm clock, his next choice of objects was the phone. When he picked it up it stopped ringing and he surmised that he had gotten it right this time. He grumbled out a groggy 'Hello, what do you want?' into the phone and waited none to patiently for the person on the other line to give him an answer.

Is this a Mr. Dennis Rafkin speaking?" A voice with and English accent replied.

'Well who the hell else would it be at five thirty in the morning?' Dennis said angrily to himself, to the person on the phone he replied, " Yes. And who might you be ?"

" Ah good, I managed to get a hold of you! You are not an easy man to track down, what with you moving suddenly all of the time." This guy replied as if he hadn't even heard Dennis' question.

Of course this didn't please Dennis at all so in reply he said, "Well good for you, I'd fully congratulate you but I still don't know who the hell you are."

" Oh, how rude of me! My name is Cyrus Kriticos. I want to hire you to help me catch some ghosts. Before you say no, I'd like to tell you that I already know of your slightly impoverished life style and that I can offer you a great sum to help me. You see, I am rather well off in society so I can afford the help of such a wonderfully gifted psychic as yourself, and I promise not to 'skip' you on the pay. So, will you help me?" 

Dennis couldn't believe this guy. If Cyrus knew so much about his lifestyle already that you would think he would know that Dennis had quit the ghost business. Well, as close to quitting as he could get, it's not like he can just turn off his 'gift'. But he needed the money, so he gave in against his better judgment and asked, "How much are you willing to pay?"

" Well, for the less violent ghosts, about twenty-five thousand apiece. But of course the more violent they are the more you will get paid."

" How can I trust your promise?"

" Why, my promise is a gentleman's promise and a gentleman never breaks his promise." Cyrus replied as if he were appalled at the very thought of betraying his promise.

Dennis didn't believe he was going to do it but he was, " All right when shall we meet?"

" Tonight in my little cottage," Cyrus gave him the address, "be there at six, and do be on time, I simply can't wait to talk in detail about the first one."

With that Cyrus hung up, with not so much as a good-bye.

"Oh goody!" Dennis' said in a mocking voice to the dial tone "Oh, I do hope there will be tea and crumpets too. Stupid old man. Now what exactly did he mean bye violent ghosts? Man this guy is a freak!"

Seeing that he wasn't going to get anymore sleep he decided to get up and get his morning paper from the lobby of the apartment building he lived in. So he got up and headed on down; after getting dressed of course. 

Once downstairs in order to get a paper, one must pass the buildings small restaurant. As Dennis was passing it he noticed a girl staring a point behind him. She was just kinda, well, staring. As to why, Dennis had no clue. This girl had long brown hair, well, except for the bottom four inches, which were a deep purple. He could tell she had contacts in because her eyes were yellow and looked like cats eyes. He shrugged off her staring and went on to get is usual morning paper. 

********

In his opinion, six had come way to early. But, here he was in front of this large log home in a slightly wooded area. He sighed and rang the doorbell. To his great surprise the girl from this morning answered the door. He couldn't resist asking her what she was looking at. 

" Oh that," she started, "well, you see, I have 'gifts' just like you, well not exactly like yours, mine are different, I can see ghosts and I can hear them talking and if someone touches me I get flashes of their life. I just can't pinpoint where a ghost is. I also don't get as many flashes as you, you get a whole history and I only get some of it. You can also touch an object they owned and know when and how they died and where they haunt. I can't do that but I wish I could. But, back to this morning, well, there was a mean looking ghost behind you and I was making sure he didn't do anything funny because we really need your help with the hunting, 'cause it's too hard to track a ghost down with just me, but with the help of your gifts we can." She finished the whole thing with huge smile on her face.

"Remind me to call you if I ever get amnesia. Lemme guess you also know my date of birth, home town, and my social security number?" Dennis said sarcastically.

" Well, as a matter of fact." she once again started, but Dennis interrupted her.

" Wait! I don't want to know!"

Just then a middle aged man that could only be Cyrus appeared.

"Ah, I see you've met Cleo, you'll be working with her. But judging from how talkative she is she's probably told you that , what her gifts are, what your gifts are, and where the neighbors three miles down went on vacation four years ago. In case you can't tell, she has a knack for finding things out. She's the one who eventually tracked you down."

It looked as if Cyrus hadn't even stopped for breath yet. Dennis, taken aback by this man said the first thing that came to mind.

"Damn straight!"

This cause a smile to make a brief although undeniable appearance on Cyrus' face.

" Now, down to business. As you know I have hired you to help me catch some ghosts. Why? You may ask. Well, some people collect baseball cards, some collect stamps, I, however, collect ghosts. I find them fascinating, I wish to find out how and why they are here, What keeps them here instead of going on , and if possible help them move on into the next realm."

Dennis laughed in disbelief.

" So you going to have us help you catch some violent ghosts just so you can chat with them over a cup of tea about what's been going on lately." Dennis replied sarcastically.

" No."

"Well that's good," Dennis began but was cut off by Cyrus.

" Talking to them is Cleo's job."

Dennis could only grin. This man was simply unbelievable.

" Well, Mr. Kriticos, how pray tell do you expect to catch a ghost. They're not exactly solid matter."

"Cages."

"Cages? I'm sorry but I don't think a cage will hold them."

" These are a different kind of cages. They are made of high quality shatterproof glass."

"Hello! Haven't you ever seen a horror movie. Ghosts walk through walls!"

" Let me finish. The glass is etched with ancient Latin containment spells. The ghosts cannot walk through them. Once the cage door is closed the only way they can get out is if the door is opened again."

" How do you know it works? Have you tested it?" Dennis still wasn't sure about all of it.

" Yes we have. We have already caught one of the ghosts I want. The one we caught, I like to call the Torso. He is quite simply the top half of a body wrapped in cellophane, he hold his own decapitated head which is also wrapped in cellophane. He was rather easy to catch."

Okay, Dennis was starting to believe him. But, "How do you know I'm for real? That my 'gifts' are real?" 

" We have been observing you for some time. We know your 'for real'."

" Okay, so when do we go after the first ghost?"

"Tonight. Actually, right now would be great."

"Right now!?"

"Yes, know if you don't mind, touch this."

It was a feather. It looked like it came from a child's headdress . Dennis didn't want to touch it but he had to, it was what he was being paid to do. So he placed his hand on it and waited for the pain. It always started suddenly, first the pain, then the images. Dennis saw quite a few things. A child in a cowboy outfit, his father telling him to listen to his mom, a friend, a bow and arrows, shooting up in the air, arrow coming down, the friend screaming for help, blood, and finally, black. When Dennis came out of it Cyrus was quick to ask him what he saw.

" I saw a kid and his friend shooting real arrows into the air, like straight up above their head, even though the kids parents told him not to. Then one of the arrows h shot came right down through his head because he didn't watch where it went he just bent over to pick something up, and then his friend screaming, and then blood and darkness." God, Dennis already hated this job.

" Good, very good. Can you tell us where he is 'haunting'?" Cyrus questioned.

" Yeah," Dennis started, "yeah, he haunts the woods around his house where he was killed."

" Is he angry at all?"

"Yeah, of course he's angry. He's dead."

" Does he want to hurt us?"

"Only if we are on his property. When we come on his property or on the property he haunts we automatically become Indians. He doesn't like Indians."

Cleo decided to then make her great reappearance and said, "What does he look like, I'll need to know so I can spot him."

" He's a ten year old kid wearing a cowboy outfit with an arrow through his head."

"Yeah, I know that but what about facial features?"

" Think of it this way, he'll be the only one there with an arrow protruding from his little forehead. He'll also be the only one there that wants us dead." 

"Oh, okay." She then smiled again.

Dennis just wanted this whole thing over with.

" Well, let's get a move on we wouldn't want to keep Mr. Kriticos' second ghost waiting would we?"

********

Dennis sarcastically wondered if he had told them he hated doing this shit already. But there he stood in the back yard of this kids ghosts. He could already feel the familiar pain of a ghost close by. He was beginning to wonder how exactly they were going to keep him from running away when a strange mantra began playing.

"What is that?" Dennis question Cleo who was standing next to him.

" It's Latin. It sort of calls the ghost and keeps him from leaving the area."

" Okay, now how exactly are we going to get him in the cage?"

"We'll have to bait it of course."

"What are we using for 'bait'?"

" An Indian. He will stand in the doorway of the cage and when the ghost gets close enough to him he'll jump out of the cage and the ghost will go inside the cage and get locked in."

"What if the guy doesn't jump out in time?"

" Then he gets killed. It's not our fault if he doesn't move fast enough."

Cleo handed Dennis a pair of clear glasses.

" What are these?" he asked.

"Wear them and you can see ghosts, take them off and you can't."

Satisfied with her answer he put on the glasses. A few seconds later he saw the ghost at the same time a Cleo. There he was. The arrow sticking out of his forehead, his hatchet in the pocket of his eternal cowboy get-up. He had a playful yet evil grin on his bloody face. Then he saw the Indian man in the doorway of the cage. The ghost's grin got a bit bigger and he slowly began approaching the cage. 

" Why isn't he running. Isn't he supposed to be fast in attacking?!" Dennis whispered to Cyrus uncertainly.

"Yes, he is supposed to be fast and he probably is. Our problem is that he figured out that the man is going to run out once he gets close and fast enough not to stop. So he going to go slowly so as to keep the man from running out. So he can trap and kill him of course."

Just as Cyrus said, the ghost was getting closer and closer to the cage, yet he wasn't going any faster. But his grin was getting bigger. His hand was slowly moving toward his hatchet. The mantra was still playing but no one seemed to hear it anymore. All eyes were on the ghost. When he got within five feet of the cage he pulled his hatchet. The Indian, scared, began backing into the cage, praying that there was a backdoor. The ghost kept smiling as he stepped into the cage, effectively cornering the Indian.

"Close the door!" Cyrus yelled.

"What are you doing?!" Dennis yelled at him, "That guy is still in there!"

" Sacrifices are to be expected, he had the chance to run but he didn't so his fate is sealed!"

As he said that the doors were closed and the mantra stopped playing. The ghost, realizing he was trapped banged on the door for a second, and then realized that his prey was trapped too. He turned toward the Indian, once again smiling and raised his hatchet. Many of the workers took of the glasses but Dennis wasn't able to, it's like he almost wanted to see it. The ghost cut the man's stomach open and his guts spilled out on the floor of the cage. The he chopped of both of the man's arm's, then each leg. The sick part was, the man was still alive, but not for long. The last thing the Indian saw was the ghost leaning over him with another evil grin on his face and his hatchet raised. Dennis couldn't take it any more, he tore off his glasses and threw them to the ground but even that couldn't the scene of the man head coming off with a final scream and being throw around the cage. 

Dennis looked around after all this and saw Cyrus had walked away during it. Pissed off he walked toward his employer.

"You are sick!" he yelled at him

"Why am I 'sick'?"

"Because you just let that man be killed, because you wanted another ghost for some sick collection that you are keeping!"

"Like I said, sacrifices are to be expected. If you don't want to lose you job, I suggest you get used to it real quick!" One could tell he was angered by Dennis' outburst. But Dennis wasn't just going to take it laying down.

"And who, pray tell, would you get to help you find the ghosts in the first place without me? How would you expand your sick, twisted collection? Do you realize that most psychics as strong as me kill themselves when their young?! So unless you want to end your collection now I advise you not fire me anytime soon!" 

Dennis blew off all the tension he had felt that night in that statement and ended it by taking one of his ever present pills. All Cyrus said after the outburst was,

"Noted." to Dennis, then to the rest of the workers, "Good job! I will see you all tomorrow. And you to Mr. Rafkin. Please be at my house a the same time tomorrow night. We have more ghosts to collect!" 

With that he walked off into the night.

*Hey! I hope you liked the first chapter of the story. If ya didn't then please go easy on the flames. It's my first story after all. Any hints as to what I could do for the bound woman would be very helpful because right now I have no clue. l8r! *


	2. The Bound Woman

Alright here we go with chapter two. At first I had know clue but after going over and over here history I figured out what to write.

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Chapter Two

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'I really don't want to be here right now.' thought Dennis absentmindedly. After he went home yesterday he couldn't sleep. The images of the Indian being savagely shopped up ran over and over in his head whenever he closed his eyes. He finally gave up on sleep after the sun rose. And now here he was listening to Cyrus go over the events of last night. But one thing confused him. Why did Cyrus keep referring to the ghost as 'The First Born Son'? He decided to question him.

"Hey Cyrus." Dennis said to get his attention. 

"Yes Mr. Rafkin?" You could tell Cyrus was growing weary of all Dennis' questions, but he had to put up with it because, after all, who else would he get to hunt with him?

"Why do you keep referring to the ghost from last night as 'The First Born Son'?"

"Well, I like to have something to call them. It's easier in the long run to just give them a name rather than calling them ghost number one or ghost number two. It makes it easier the differentiate amongst them."

"Well, why do you give them the names you do?"

"Well, the Torso is self-explanatory; he is simply the torso of a body with a decapitated head. The one we caught last night was the family's first child, the first born son. The one we will be capturing tonight I like to call The Bound Woman because she was hung and bound up, once again self-explanatory. I try to name them according to how they look or physical aspects of their lives."

Cyrus took a piece of satin ribbon off of the desk in his library and brought it over to Dennis. He held it out for Dennis to touch. He gave Cyrus a look that said, 'you asshole' and put his hand on the ribbon. He felt the familiar pain start and the flashes soon started.

A prom queen, a cheerleader, her boyfriend finding her in someone else's arm at a party, taking her to the woods, tying her hand together, hanging her from a tree, getting scared, buying her beneath the football field, and black.

Dennis had fallen to the floor sometime during the flashes and as soon as they were over Cleo, who he had learned, could touch him without him getting flashes, hurried over and helped him up.

"What did you see, where is she?" Cyrus asked in a hurry to get the nights hunting started.

" Her boyfriend got mad at her and hung her. Then he got scared and buried her beneath the football field where he thought no one would find her. She still haunts the football field. She doesn't like men because one killed her and she is really fast. That's all I got." Dennis then walked over and sat down in a comfy looking chair.

"Good, I shall call my men and tell them to meet me at the town's high school football field in two hours. Why don't you go to the kitchen and get a bite to eat in the mean time." Cyrus smiled at them and then picked up the phone to call.

Dennis, relieved that they didn't have to go yet willingly went to the kitchen with Cleo for food.

********

Two hours later Dennis found himself in the middle of an old football field. 

"Where is she?" Cyrus asked Dennis as soon as the equipment was set up.

"I can feel her over on the bleachers. She's mad at us."

"Cleo, is he right?"

"Yeah, I see her now. Her arms are tied behind her back."

Dennis and everyone else present put on their special glasses and the mantra began to play.

"Hey Cyrus," Dennis began "How are we going to lure her?"

"We have placed a large photo of her killer in the cage." Cyrus patiently answered.

The ghost was floating on the bleachers when suddenly she just disappeared. Everyone began looking around to see where she was when she just reappeared behind one of the worker and he began to choke. She wasn't even touching him; it was like she was doing it using her mind. 

As Dennis was watching this guy being chokes to death he heard a little girls voice behind him. Thinking the girl had moved really fast like earlier he turned on his heals and came face to face with nothing. He turned back around and saw her still behind the man, who was now within seconds of death. He also saw the small grin she had directed toward him. He got it now. She could throw her voice.

"Cyrus!" He yelled over the slowly playing mantra.

"What?" Cyrus yelled back.

"She can throw her voice! I heard her voice behind me but she was still over there." He yelled back over to Cyrus jerking his finger at the now dead worker and the ghost.

Everyone was still watching her every move but now they knew not to turn around when they heard her voice. Finished with killing the worker she looked over to the cage and saw the picture of her ex-boyfriend and killer. She grimaced and disappeared only to reappear in the box in front of the picture. Seeing that Cyrus hadn't noticed she was in the cage Cleo yelled for them to close the cage. The ghost heard the cage moving and tried to get out but the door closed before she could get to it. Then she tried to do another poof and found that the box would not allow her to leave by any means, so she used her mind to crumple her killer's picture.

Once the cage was put away Dennis walked over to Cyrus who was standing over the dead body looking at it. Dennis looked at it too, and tried not to puke at the site. The man's face was a blue-purple color and his eyes were bulging out, his tongue was stuck out and a blackish color, there was blood running from his eyes, and there were red marks around his neck.

"Such a pity. He was a diligent worker too. So dedicated, I'm going to miss this one." Cyrus said. It was the first time since Dennis had first talked to him that he had expressed remorse for something. 

"Alright men," Cyrus continued, " I will see you all tomorrow night, good job today. Do not worry about the family of this worker, I shall call and give the grave news myself. Good night."

He and Cleo walked of to their cars and after putting a handkerchief over the face of the dead Dennis continued on to his car too. On the drive home Dennis' thoughts were not of the night's work but of tomorrow night when they were to catch a ghost called the withered lover. They were going to catch her at a hospital and this presented problems for Dennis, he had been paranoid of hospitals since his parent's death and this would be like a huge confrontation for him. But he had to do it. It was what he was paid to do.

* There's chapter two, I tell you, I had to really sit there and think of what to do with her and now I have to sit and think of what to do with the Withered Lover. Please review. Thanx l8r.*


	3. The Withered Lover

*Here we go with chapter 3, I would like to say thanks to Hildebrant for her advice even though I had managed to write the bound woman before I read her review. thanx for the help!*

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Chapter 3

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Dennis had spent the time between him getting up and going to Cyrus' house stressing over going to the hospital to catch the 'Withered Lover' as Cyrus had called her. He was actually scared of going. He was sure his mother haunted the place, and he was scared of her. She had had to be killed in order for him to live. You see, before he was born the doctors told his mother there was something wrong with his placement in her womb and since they didn't have the technology to save both of them one had to die. They saved him only because his father wanted them to. If it were up to his mother he wouldn't be here right now and sometimes he wondered if it wouldn't have been better that way. 

His father used to visit Dennis' grandma before she died and one day they found his dead body on an operating table. His stomach had been cut out and his throat had been slit. Dennis knew his mother had done it, she was mad because his father saved him and not her, and now he was scared to go to the hospital. He was sure it was his last day alive, surely she would kill him. 

********

They were standing in front of St. Jude's hospital. Dennis could already feel the presence of many spirits. What Dennis didn't get is why Cyrus knew where this ghost was without his help. He guessed that he probably tapped the hospital records to find a suitable ghost for his collection. 

"Well men, lets get inside and set up our stuff." Cyrus said and proceeded to lead his men into the building. Dennis was one of the last one's to go inside the hospital. He dreaded what was to come.

"Dennis, come over here." Cyrus called him. Dennis walked over to where Cyrus was standing. "Can you feel her?" He asked.

"Well, not really there are too many spirits here to tell which is her, I'd have to touch something that belonged to her in order to root out her spirit." Dennis was now willing to touch something as long as it go him out of this hospital sooner. Cyrus showed him a picture of a family. Husband, wife, two kids. He swiftly placed his hand on the picture willing to process to end quickly. He got images of a fire, saving kids, pain, burning, hospital visits, and black. He was glad this one went faster.

"Do you know where she is?" Cyrus asked him. Dennis just pointed to the end of the hall. Cyrus signaled to the men and they all put on their glasses. Dennis did the same. He looked at the ghost. One side of her body was burned badly, the other half wasn't. She had a motherly look about her. Then they opened the cage and started playing the mantra. The mantra was keeping her in the area but she didn't want it to. A panicked look crossed her face and every one heard her desperate plea. It even brought some people to tears. It was so sad. "Please. Please don't take me. My family, I have to watch over them, my daughter asked me to. Please take someone else, not me. My family, my family. I need to get to my family!" But she was slowly being pulled closer to the box. Suddenly a worker with a piece of the etched glass came up behind her and pushed her into the cage with it. They quickly closed the door once she was inside. Unlike the other ghosts she didn't claw, or scream or bang on the cage. She just leaned into one of the corners and cried. It caused most to break into fresh tears, but what was done was done.

While the men were cleaning up Dennis heard a voice behind him somewhere. It sounded kind of sweet so he followed it. Who knows maybe his mother wasn't mad at him. 

He followed the voice to and empty room three halls down from the workers. He heard the voice say hello and he put on his glasses so he could see her. And see her he did. She was tall and skinny like him, she had brown hair like him, but unlike him she had brown eyes. He got his eyes from his dad. He also got most of his facial features from his dad. She smiled at him but it didn't seem right. It wasn't a 'I'm happy to see you smile', it was more of a 'Now I have you in my clutches smile.' It scared him.

" Hello Dennis." she said to him. (A.N. She can talk to him because she is a blood relative) 

"What do you want from me?" He asked ready to run at any time.

"Why nothing child. You are my son, I love you. I'm glad to finally see you all grown up." She was still smiling at him.

"Really, then why did you kill dad?"

"How did you know about that sweetheart?"

"I knew it was you. Who else had reason to hate him?"

"I always told that man not to have you believing in ghosts. And here I find out he went against my word. I killed him because he was a bad man. He would have hurt you."

"He never taught me to believe in ghosts. For me it's kind of hard not to. You see, if I touch anything that belongs to a ghost I go into convulsions and see flashes of how they died, when they died, and where they haunt. I can also tell if there mean or not. If I touch anybody that's alive, except for a friend of mine who had 'gifts' a powerful as mine too, I get flashes of their life. I helped catch that ghost with those men tonight and I'm going to help them catch more because it's what I do. Now I know you didn't bring me here to chat so, what do you what?" He finished by restating his question from earlier.

"Well, now that you mention it, I would like something." She said, her smile returning.

"Good, now what is it?" Dennis said and looked at her. Her grin turned evil looking and she pulled a knife from behind her back. She stood up and when Dennis tried to get away from her the door behind him shut itself. Dennis was trapped.

"Do you know what I want sweetheart?" She asked.

"No, what do you want?" He asked scared of the answer.

"Your life!" She snarled out and lunged at him.

He dodged out of the way and ran to the other side of the room but soon she was over there too. He kept having to dodge out of her way and finally when he made it back to the other side of the room he tried to open the door finding that she was holding it shut from the inside. He looked up for a second and she ran into him throwing him on the bed. She then held the knife to his throat and was about to slice it when there was a pounding on the door. His mother temporarily unnerved allowed him the space he needed to get to the door and try to open it again. This time it worked a Cleo came stumbling in. When she saw his mom her mouth dropped, she looked from his mom to him and back again and she mouthed 'your mother' to Dennis and he could only nod his head. This time his mother went after Cleo but Cleo pulled herself and him out into the hallway and they began the run back to where the workers were. He could feel her following them but once they were in the light of the workers area she stopped. Cleo and Dennis stopped running and hunched over trying to catch their breath.

"What was she doing?" Cleo said in between gasps for air.

"She was trying to kill me." Dennis answered.

"Why?" Cleo asked. Dennis then told her about her mother's death and the death of his father. When he was done she took his hand and told him she was sorry. He told her not to worry about it. He'd been through worse. 

Cyrus came over and told them that he would see all of them tomorrow. He asked Dennis to come over an hour early tomorrow. They had things to discuss. Then he left. Dennis slowly made his was to his car parked in the back of the parking lot, the whole time he could hear his mother calling him back, but he paid no attention. To him life had gotten easier. He had faced his mother and got out alive. If he could do that then he could do anything. In an odd way he began to look forward to tomorrow night's hunt. He didn't know if he should be worried or ecstatic, but he was too tired to care at the moment.

*Hey!!! How was it. Did ya like it! I hope ya did! Please review lots and lots! Until the next chapter my friends!*


	4. The Torn Prince

* Well, here it is chapter four. First off, sorry Hildebrant for calling you a girl, didn't mean to. Thanx to Goody for the review, I couldn't even come up with something for the Torso that's why I said they caught him before they hired Dennis. I fixed the chapter names. Here we go.*

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Chapter 4

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Dennis arrived at Cyrus' house an hour early as asked and knocked on the door. For once Cyrus answered the door instead of Cleo. Dennis wondered why.

"Why didn't Cleo answer the door?"

"That's part of why I asked you here earlier today. Cleo is going on vacation, that means your on your own when it comes to tracking the ghosts."

"How long will she be gone for?"

"A week. She left last night for her destination and will be back in seven days. We will get this ghost tonight and another in three days. Four days after that Cleo will be back and we can go after the next one."

"Exactly how many ghosts are we going to get?"

"Twelve total. We've got four counting the one we caught before you were hired."

"Do you have names for the rest of them too?"

"Yes, today's ghost is called 'The Torn Prince', the rest in order are 'The Angry Princess', 'The Pilgrimess', 'The Great Child' and 'The Dire Mother', 'The Hammer', 'The Jackal', and 'The Juggernaut'."

"Okay that's just great. Oh by the way, where has Cleo gone for vacation?" Dennis asked, his curiosity becoming to much for him to deny.

"Well, I don't really know, I believe she is going to visit her family and friends but I'm not sure."

"You said this was only part of our conversation tonight. What's the other part?"

"Ah that, why did you go off last night?"

"My mother's ghost was calling me. She wanted to kill me because they killed her to keep me alive. Cleo helped save me."

"Okay, thank you for being honest. Now, we have a ghost to catch. Let's get to it." Cyrus smiled at Dennis. And pulled out a baseball. Dennis' eyes rose to the ceiling for a second and then he put his hand on the baseball. He felt the familiar pain of the visions starting. 

A baseball player, other side, daring side, feeling invincible, cars, drag race, not braking in time, crash, fire, anger, and black.

"Well, what happened to him."

"He was a rich kid jock who went too far in a drag race. He didn't brake in time and his car crashed. He's currently haunting an old straight stretch of unused highway, he likes to stay pretty much were his car crashed but he will attack anybody that comes within fifty yards and provokes him."

"Good very good. I will call my men and tell them to go to the old highway you speak of." With that Cyrus walked out of the room to call his workers giving Dennis time to think. He wondered what they would use for bait this time. When Cyrus came back he asked him.

"We will be suspending a pair of keys from the ceiling of the cage. There will be a mint condition 1980 Firebird. The car itself is red. This guy liked cars when he was alive and he probably wouldn't pass up the chance to get his hand on the keys to one even now. Now let's get to that highway."

********

Dennis could feel this guy and he was still quite a ways away from where he crashed. He could feel the anger directed at him. After all, he was the one who brought the men here to catch him. Dennis walked up to where Cyrus was standing, about ten feet away from the car.

"I hope you know I really don't like this one. Maybe it's because he's pissed off at me. Can I leave now?" Dennis asked, all to eager to get the hell out of dodge.

"No." Was Cyrus' simple respond. Then Cyrus handed Dennis a pair of the spectral viewers and told him to watch out and jumped back about five feet. Dennis put on the glasses and came face to face with the end of a baseball bat. He tried to jump but the bat still hit his shoulder. He stumbled a bit and looked up just in time to see the bat about to hit him in the back. He couldn't jump in time and got hit in the upper back. He screamed in pain and doubled over. The ghost then hit him in the shoulder again and once again Dennis cried out and fell on the ground. He looked up and saw the ghosts slowly coming at him with the bat raised and he began to scoot backwards trying to get away but the ghost advanced and hit him in the side of the head causing Dennis to pass out. Once Dennis was out cold the ghost, satisfied that he had taught Dennis a lesson went after someone else.

The ghost was still knocking out workers five minutes later when Dennis came to, rubbing his head where the bitch of a ghost had hit him. Dennis slowly stood, wobbled a bit, and stumbled over to Cyrus who was observing the whole thing impassively.

"Got an aspirin?" He asked cynically.

"No but watch the ghost. He has knocked out at least ten people since you passed out five minutes ago. I'm beginning to wonder if he's ever going to notice the keys in the cage."

Just then the ghost succeeded in knocking out yet another worker and moved on to his next unlucky victim. Dennis watched it in disgust but when he looked at Cyrus his disgust was redirected at him. Cyrus was watching the whole thing in total awe. Not caring that half of his 'hired help' were passed out on the cold pavement from head and back wounds. No, far be it for Cyrus to give a shit about one of his workers, that could be construed as caring and Cyrus Kriticos didn't care about anybody. But Dennis did give a shit and he had had quite enough of this ghost. He decided to take things into his own hands. 

Dennis ran over to the front of the cage when the ghost wasn't looking and stood in front of the open doors. 

"Hey tall, dark, and bloody!" Dennis yelled out to the ghost. The ghost hearing him turned and saw his previously knocked out prey talking to him.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, you bitch! Why don't you come and get me? At least I've done something to piss you off!" Dennis couldn't believe he was doing this, but he was.

The ghost now even more pissed at Dennis started to slowly walk in his direction, but then he decided that his speed was to slow and began to run at Dennis. As he sped up Dennis looked and judged the distance between him and the button that would close the cage. He thought he could just make it. He looked back at the ghost and watched him run toward the cage. When the ghost was three feet from him Dennis jumped toward the machine with the door closing button and pushed it just as the ghost ran in unable to stop in time to go around the cage. Once he realized that he was trapped the ghost began hitting the shatterproof glass repeatedly in a feeble attempt to escape the cage. Cyrus walked over and patted Dennis on the back.

"Good job, great job! You really got him didn't you?" Cyrus said obviously pleased at what Dennis did.

"Thanks." Dennis said. 

Then a woman with short brown hair and a nose ring came over to them, glared at Dennis and Cyrus, and walked over to the cage putting her hand on it.

"How could you Cyrus? This is a person you have caught. I won't allow it. I told you that when you were getting the Torso. You wont pull it off. You won't! I'll make sure of it!" The last two sentences she yelled as she was being pulled away by a couple workers.

"Who was that?!" Dennis asked/screamed at Cyrus.

"Her name is Kaleena. She doesn't want me to catch the ghosts. But she doesn't have a say in it. She will be coming to try and stop us along the way but that is to be expected. Just don't let her get in the way of you doing your job. Now would you like to join me at my house for an icepack and some tea?" Cyrus asked jokingly.

"Sure, why not." Dennis answered. With that they walked off to go to Cyrus' house. They both wanted to discuss the nights events.

*Alright there it is. Please review. Oh yeah, um Goody, I respect the fact that you didn't use bait for the captures of the rest of the ghosts. I probably shouldn't have been using bait but, hey! Who said we had to go by the book! It's more interesting this way! Remember to review!*


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